Calculating the forward kinematics is often a vital first step to using a new robot in research. While there are some good tutorials available online, up until now there hasn’t been a simple step-by-step guide for calculating forward kinematics. In this post, we provide a simple guide along with some tips on calculating the kinematics of any robotic manipulator.

When you design a system it is often tempting to place a fuse on every component. This idea is fine for most batteries, sensors, and computers. However this can really cause destruction when you are working with motors. I have seen several motor drivers burn up (probably the FET’s got damaged) from having this set up wrong.

Running Linux on your embedded system can be great for giving you a stable base, lots of tools, and you can often solve problems with a quick Google search.

In this new Robots 101 series, we will be taking a look at how robots work, what makes designing them challenging, and how engineers at Clearpath Robotics tackle these problems. Today we will be looking at lasers, and how they contribute to robotic systems.

I have often thought about what the proper software methodology should be for the various robots that I build. My thoughts have evolved over time as I have seen these tool work. While I do not have any formal software engineering training, these are the common principles that I have seen, heard, read, etc. that I believe in (at 2am while I write this).

In this new tutorial series, robotics educator and author Myke Predko introduces you to the basics of Arduino with simple projects that can be created in just a few minutes with inexpensive and easy-to-obtain parts. In this tutorial, Myke dives into how to program your Arduino so that you can plan an effective software architecture and monitor your application. Look for new tutorials every 2-3 weeks, or see all the tutorials in this series here. 

In 2008, the Mars Science Laboratory’s launch was delayed, in large part due to issues with lubrication. Lubrication can dramatically impact the performance of your system: improper lubrication can cause your mechanical parts to wear out and fail, and lead to increased power usage and annoying audible sounds. This post looks at the main types of lubrication and where you should use them.

Recently, Mathworks released a new toolbox for Matlab. This is exciting for a number of reasons: it includes everything from data analysis to coordination of multiple robots. In today’s post, we explore using this Robotics System Toolbox to connect to both real and virtual Jackal robots.

By Martin Cote

After working in the terminal, gazebo and RViz, it’s time for a change of pace. For this ROS101 tutorial we’ll be detailing the basics of creating your own rqt dashboard! A dashboard is a single rqt window with one or more plugins displayed in movable, re-sizable frames. Dashboards generally consist of a number of plugins that, in combination, provide a suite of UI capabilities for working with robots and robot data.

In this new tutorial series, robotics educator and author Myke Predko will introduce you to the basics of Arduino with simple projects that can be created in just a few minutes with inexpensive and easy-to-obtain parts. In this tutorial Myke gives directions for setting up your own Arduino development station. Look for new lessons every 2-3 weeks.

Choosing a camera can be confusing. It is important to determine your requirements, and then figure out how these can be achieved between the camera and the optics.

This new tutorial series is for anyone interested in Arduino, from high school students to professional engineers. In this introduction, robotics educator and author Myke Predko gives an overview of the benefits – and limitations – of using Arduino for your project. Look for new tutorials every 2-3 weeks.

Throughout my career I have had to ship various robots to different locations around the world. Here is a little bit about what I have learned about transporting robots.

By Martin Cote

The Arduino family of micro controllers has quickly become a go-to board for hobbyists due to its ease of use. Often times roboticists must create communication protocols to allow their embedded hardware to communicate with a computer. One of the most powerful aspects of ROS is that it can communicate with a large variety of hardware. That’s where rosserial comes in! Rosserial is a general protocol for sending ROS messages over a serial interface, such as the UART on Arduino. This allows you to easily interface any sensors attached to Arduino into your ROS environment. Read on to learn more!

We would like to welcome our newest Robohub contributor, David Kohanbash, whose blog – Robots for Roboticists – covers a broad range of technical topics that is sure to interest makers and practitioners. We hope you enjoy!

Incremental encoders are good for speed control and can be used for position control when we have a homing routine to get absolute position, or the system is constrained to less than one rotation.